Publications

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17 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

early weeks (the man does not let up!), the students come to appreciate the intensity and rapid-fire humor of their teacher. Clearly, he cares. A lot. And by the end of the semester, something transformative has happened: They are better... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail

August 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Bonne Chance

With a competitor nipping at his heels, his bank reluctantly covering his recent overdraft, Jacob Zimmerman is considering expanding his Midwestern retail jewelry business by bringing on the new Swatch watch line to augment his high end Rolex offerings. Only 14 weeks... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Financial Crisis; Crisis Management; Bank Loan; Entrepreneurial Finance; Turnarounds; Negotiation; Liquidation; Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

September 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Spyder Active Sports - 2004

By: Belen Villalonga, Dwight B. Crane and James Quinn

David Jacobs founded a high-end ski apparel company in 1978. He successfully built and grew the company, establishing a major international brand that appealed to ski racers and other active skiers. In 1995, he sought external financing to support further growth of the... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Business Exit or Shutdown; Valuation; Brands and Branding; Wealth; Family Business; Financing and Loans; Globalization; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Colorado

June 1994 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Safeway, Inc.'s Leveraged Buyout (C): Media Response

Focuses exclusively on the controversy by presenting the media responses to the LBO and its aftermath, including full text of Faludi's interview with Safeway CEO Peter Magowan, and her subsequent Journal article. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Media; Retail Industry; United States

11 Jun 2024
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists. For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

October 2009 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Qualcomm Incorporated 2009

By: David B. Yoffie, Andrei Hagiu and Elizabeth A. Kind

Paul Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated, smiled as he reflected on the success of Qualcomm's code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. By the summer of 2009, CDMA was the basis for all third generation technologies available for cellular... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Diversification; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

April 2001
Supplement

Russell Reynolds Associates

By: Tarun Khanna

Features a presentation by Managing Directors Peter Drummond-Hay and Steve Scroggins of Russell Reynolds, to a class of MBA students at the Harvard Business School about the challenges of developing institutions of management and the labor market. View Details

Keywords: Management; Labor; Markets; Problems and Challenges

12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Facing the New World Order

Published since 1979 by the World Economic Forum, the Global Competitiveness Report ranks seventy-five countries and measures the comparative strengths and weaknesses of their economies. At a press conference announcing publication of the... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

01 Oct 2009
What Do You Think?

Can the “Masks of Command” Coexist with Authentic Leadership?

leadership? Those arguing that the two can coexist cite situations, generally involving adversity, in which the "greater good" is served by masking a leader's feelings. Frances Pratt argued that " we must be careful (and... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

June 2003 (Revised October 2004)
Case

StorageNetworks: Restarting a Public Company (A)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Todd H Thedinga

Peter Bell, founder and CEO of StorageNetworks, faces the problem of "restarting" a public company by changing its business model from being a storage-services provider to being a storage software developer. The task seems challenging, but surely doable, with $200... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Diversification; Change Management; Cash; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

05 Dec 2022
What Do You Think?

How Would Jack Welch’s Leadership Style Fare in Today’s World?

process heavily influenced in previous years by resident scholar Peter Drucker. GE ran a business school. Managers both taught and learned just as their CEO did. But in Gelles’ opinion, the school and the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Industrial Products; Media & Broadcasting; Medical Devices & Supplies; Manufacturing

24 Apr 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan with well-defined metrics the following year. Polman’s efforts in his first eight years returned 214 percent to Unilever shareholders. Nevertheless, Kraft Heinz, owned by Brazilian private equity firm 3G,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto; Food & Beverage

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry